Games - Nick Arcade

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	Games - Nick Arcade

Nick Arcade was a game show hosted by Phil Moore that aired on the Nickelodeon television network in America from 1992 to 1993 (in the first season, the shows were taped in 1991 and aired in early 1992). The show was the first to regularly intermix live action with animation using a bluescreen. Two teams of contestants played two initial rounds, with the winner advancing to play "inside a video game." The show can currently be seen on Nick GAS.

Main Game

Face-Off

Each round would start with a one of the following games:

Meteoroids: Space shooter where players move targets trying to zap the most flying targets from asteroids to ships, etc.
Laser Surgeon: Same as Meteoroids, but with an inside-the-body theme.
Post-Haste: A race type game where players control a mailman trying to dodge obstacles. Winner is the player who gets the farthest.
Jet Jocks: Same as Post-Haste, with players controlling jetskiers avoiding obstacles in a river.
Crater Rangers: Same as Post-Haste, with players controlling vehicles avoiding obstacles on the moon.
Brainstorm: Players dodge an impulse that bounces from side to side. The team whose side gets hit the fewest times wins.
Battle of the Bands: Same dodge-game as Brainstorm, with an onstage theme.
Star Defenders: Same dodge-game as Brainstorm, with a spaceship theme.

All of these games were developed by Psygnosis, creator of the "Lemmings" video game series.

The winner of the face-off wins points for his/her respective team. If the face-off ends in a tie, a toss-up question was asked for the points. The team would also get control of "Mikey, the Video Adventurer".

Main Rounds

After the face-off, a cartoon character called "Mikey" would be navigated over a thematic game-board by the teams. (The themes included things like "The Old West" or "The Jungle".) The game-board was divided into 18 squares, and Mikey was moved around the board towards a "goal" space on the board. When new squares were landed on, various things would be uncovered, including trivia quizzes, video based puzzles, bonus instant-win prizes, and "Video Challenge" squares. The latter involved one player of the team playing one of five video games in an attempt beat a high score within 30 seconds.

The following home systems were used in the Video Challenge:

Nintendo Entertainment System
(NES)
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
(SNES)
Sega Genesis
TurboGrafx 16
Neo-Geo
See also: List of video games featured on Nick Arcade

The object was to get Mikey to the Goal, as discussed below. Sometimes, the round might end prematurely due to time constraints. In such cases, a question is asked and the first team to buzz in received 50 points. Round 2 was played the same way, but with point values doubled.

Moving Mikey

There are seven different types of spaces Mikey could land on:

Pop Quiz - A question based on the area Mikey is travelling in was asked. The team that buzzed in with the correct response is given 25 points (50 in the 2nd round) and control of the board.

Prize - The team that moved Mikey won a prize and kept control.

Bonus Points - The team that moved Mikey was awarded 25 points (50 in the 2nd round) and kept control.

Video Puzzle - Different puzzles were played. The team that identified the object received 25 points (50 in the 2nd round) and control. Examples of video puzzles:
* "Video Repairman": Identify the artist in a scrambled up music video.
* "What Was That": A video of an object being destroyed is rewound and the object is to identify the object.
* "Credit Crawl": Credits appear identifying a person, place or thing and the object is to identify it.
* "Fast Forward": A sped up video clip is shown and the object is to predict the outcome.

Video Challenge - One of the contestants from a team chose one of five video games on stage to play. The goal was to beat the "Wizard's Challenge" ("Expert Challenge" in season 2) which is to achieve a certain score in 30 seconds or less for the game chosen. The other team member used a Magna-Doodle to wager an amount from their score on whether or not his/her partner would meet or beat the score. If they do, the wager is added to there score and the team kept control of Mikey. If not, they lost the wager and the other team gained control.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Nick Arcade ]

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